Indigenous Languages in America

 Reflections on October 12^th

Of the national holidays celebrated in my country, Colombia, one of the most memorable for me is October 12th. Until a few decades ago, the discovery of America was a festivity celebrated with considerable pomp in Spanish-speaking countries. Statues of Christopher Columbus, located in main squares or avenues, were visited and people paid homage to “the man who discovered America.”

Today, the situation has changed. According to an article from CNN Mundo, at least 40 of these Columbus statues have been removed in the United States. The same has occurred in several Latin American countries that have relocated or removed them, including Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina.

October 12th is referred to by various names: Discovery Day, Race Day, Hispanic Day, Indigenous Resistance Day, among others. At the end of the Netflix series “The Queen and the Conqueror,” a name is mentioned that I particularly like because it is open to interpretation: “The Encounter of Two Cultures.”

October 12th is still a national holiday in Spanish-speaking countries. Living in an Anglo-Saxon country, where this festival is not celebrated, this day is a time for reflection for me. It brings back many memories, such as the military parades and cultural activities we held in school. As a language teacher, I have also questioned the status of indigenous languages on several occasions.

According to various studies, when Columbus arrived, there were between 40 and 60 million people living in America. An article from BBC Mundo states that this population was grouped into about 120 language families, speaking around 1,200 different languages. This figure is quite significant when we consider that today there are between 3,000 and 7,000 living languages in the world, with the UN recognising 141 languages as official.

Statista indicates that the territory of present-day Latin America spans 20.5 million square kilometres. It was larger in the past as it included part of what is now the southern United States. Upon researching the official languages, Spanish, Portuguese (spoken in Brazil), and French (in Haiti) emerge. Europe covers 5.9 million square kilometres and has 24 official languages. In Spain, besides Spanish, Catalan, Valencian, Galician, and Basque are also official.

In 1770, Spanish King Charles III issued a royal decree prohibiting the use of indigenous American languages. The law stated that indigenous people were to be instructed in religious doctrines in Spanish. They were to be taught to read and write in Spanish to make it the sole and universal language of the empire. Despite this, not all native communities were fully “castellanised,” and many native languages continued to be spoken.

Today, it is not easy to determine how many indigenous languages exist in Latin America, as the numbers vary depending on the criteria used to define what constitutes a language and what constitutes a dialect. In Mexico, there are around 7 million speakers of an indigenous language and 68 indigenous languages. There are 11 language families, and the most widely spoken language is Nahuatl, with 1,448,936 speakers. This is followed by Maya, Tseltal, Tsotsil, Mixtec, and Zapotec.

The number of Nahuatl speakers is considerable. For comparison, Malta has a population of 531,112 inhabitants, and learning Maltese in schools is mandatory. As can be seen, the number of Nahuatl speakers is three times that of Malta. An interesting figured that should not be ignored.

In Brazil, Portuguese is the official language, but more than 150 languages are spoken, highlighting significant linguistic diversity. According to the 2010 census, 34,000 inhabitants in Brazil speak Tikuna, 25,500 speak Guarani Kaiowá, and 22,000 speak Kaingang.

After Brazil and Mexico, the countries with the most linguistic richness are Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela. Focusing on the Inca Empire in Peru, we find around 47 indigenous languages. The most widely spoken languages are Quechua and Aymara. According to the newspaper El Peruano, 16.3% of the population, or 4 million people, have a native language as their mother tongue. In Peru, 375,682 people speak Quechua, and 444,389 speak Aymara. It is worth mentioning that Quechua is also spoken in other Andean countries such as Ecuador and Bolivia. Additionally, this language has various dialects and is spoken regionally by about 14 million people throughout Latin America.

Looking at my home country, the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (ONIC) states that there are 13 language families, with 65 indigenous languages spoken. The National Ministry of Education, together with the United Nations programme, has produced audio resources about indigenous communities. To access the resource, click here.

Despite the cultural wealth that these languages represent, the World Bank indicates that indigenous people are ceasing to speak their languages. This leads to the loss of significant knowledge, whether cultural, environmental, social, technological, or economic. On the other hand, there is now greater awareness of cultural wealth, and generally, governments through universities and cultural institutions are creating spaces for the prevailing indigenous languages to be strengthened and preserved.

The University of the Pacific in Peru offeres Quechua courses to preserve the language. Other institutions, such as the Quechua Kuska Institute, also offer both in-person and virtual courses. Furthermore, a multicultural and multilingual country like Mexico is committed to promote linguistic richness and several organisations such as the Autonomous University of Yucatan offer Maya courses. Mexico has the National School of Languages, Linguistics, and Translation, where Nahuatl can also be learned.

 

All these government initiatives are positive and useful for keeping indigenous languages alive. The language of my ancestors is an extinct language, that of the Muisca, which belonged to the Chibcha language family. I am pleased to know that other indigenous languages are being revitalised through oral tradition, research, and cultural recognition by various organisations.

October 12th is an important date for the Spanish-speaking world. We should take this opportunity to celebrate more the cultural richness and the contributions of our ancestors in various fields.

Bibliography:

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